


hiraeth

by Writeous



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Lowercase, Minimal editing, Short & Sweet, season 5 speculation, tornado twins - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 21:04:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17373287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writeous/pseuds/Writeous
Summary: On Earth-2, Barry finds the family that he was robbed of.





	hiraeth

an absolutely fantastic way to alert barry to the existence of the tornado twins would be if they went on another trip to earth-2 and met e2 westallen, raising two rambunctious children. “this is don and dawn,” the other barry says. he ruffles his daughter’s hair, and it’s easy for barry to superimpose nora’s features on her, twenty years older, “we call her dar, for short.”

“twins,” barry echoes in disbelief, and he remembers eobard, the patronizing smile when he’d said, “at least you still have one.” 

his counterpart grins, oblivious to barry’s inner dilemma. nora - dawn -  _ dar  _  - squirms out of her father’s grip while don tucks closer into his side, squinting up at barry in suspicion. barry can’t help the surge of jealousy as he sees the easy familiarity between the two. eobard had not only robbed him of a mother, it seemed, but had also carelessly erased one of his future children from existence. barry looks at his son-who-is-not-his-son, and it is not difficult to mourn for what could have been.

any possible response is strangled in his throat, the what-ifs filling the empty space and grinding every train of rational thought to a halt. the other iris looks at barry, sees the rigidity of his posture and the furrow between his eyebrows, and reads her not-husband almost as well as his own wife. after all, in every universe, barry and iris find each other.

“barry” she says, and two identical men turn to respond as one. at their feet, another set of twins look up at their mother. she nods at her not-husband, at the man who wrongly blames himself for the death of her father and has difficulty meeting her eyes. something electric hangs in the air, and iris resists the urge to cradle her children in her arms and whisk them away from the underlying grief their not-father seems to exude. “whatever happened to your family - it wasn’t your fault.”

her not-husband closes his eyes. “i know,” he replies, and when he opens them she sees  _ the flash _ . he stands, and it’s in these moments that she sees how different the two barry allen’s are. the barry allen who is not hers, with a straightened posture and regal tilt of his head, has the steady, unwavering confidence of one endowed with limitless power. he has a family and friends - he has an iris - but still she looks at the set of his shoulders and is reminded of atlas. her husband, however, is excitable in every way, comfortable with domesticity and still yearning for more, ready to do anything for her and don and dar, eager to help the people around him, unable to stand still. if she were to try to carry the weight of the world, she knows he would shoulder it alongside her.

she knows which one she prefers.

the other barry bids them goodbye and disappears in a clap or thunder and flare of gold. iris curls up against her husband, the two sandwiched between their children. she calls them “tornadoes” and her barry laughs at the nickname. 

on another earth, barry pulls nora into a hug, and she doesn’t feel like one half of a pair. eobard took so much from him before, but he’d be damned if he let anyone hurt his family again.

**Author's Note:**

> This was essentially just a text post that got wildly out of hand. I ended up liking how it turned out, so I'm posting it here as well! :)


End file.
